Joulethief SEC exciter and variants

[xee2]

Br0kenMan posted an interesting video on AV plug alternatives. The single diode version seems interesting. Do you really need TWO diodes for an AV plug?

YouTube - Avramenko plug alternatives

Mussle

In my experience, it is best to use a pair of LEDs in parallel but opposite directions. Unlike diodes, LEDs will burn out with only a few volts of reverse voltage. By having the second diode in the opposite direction, one of the diodes will always go on and prevent the voltage from getting high enough to exceeed the maximum reverse voltage spec for the LEDs.

[seth]

Thanx Slayer... I was feeling a little put-out and left behind without a charger.

Probably gonna go get some disposable camera circuits and more transistors today. Hoping I can use a camera circuit to mimic a cell phone charger somehow.

Mussle

I admire your A Team spirit Always best to work with whats lying around - you learn more. Thanks for the AV plug vid. i still havent found any of these IN4148 diodes

I replaced my pretty top toroid tonight with a massive pasta sieve (not the wire mesh ones but the big metal saucepans with holes....i think its called a sieve, but i never cook so im not sure). It aint so pretty, but it seemed to help my output - the lights got brighter and the field grew bigger. Managed to light 5 CFLs (not fully bright but all were 14W and more) on the phone charger running at 200mA. Is this down to the sheer size of the sieve?? should i try a wok next??? I will do anyway Or perhaps its the holes.....hmmmm

[anonymussle]

I replaced my pretty top toroid tonight with a massive pasta sieve (not the wire mesh ones but the big metal saucepans with holes....i think its called a sieve, but i never cook so im not sure). It aint so pretty, but it seemed to help my output - the lights got brighter and the field grew bigger. Managed to light 5 CFLs (not fully bright but all were 14W and more) on the phone charger running at 200mA. Is this down to the sheer size of the sieve?? should i try a wok next??? I will do anyway Or perhaps its the holes.....hmmmm

I've been using the metal fan cover off a computer power supply, pretty easy to get my hands on. Just lay it flat on top of my coil. I compared the range to such things as metal bowls and didn't notice much of a difference. Perhaps I'm doing something wrong. Plus my coils aren't that big. About 11" high, 1" diameter, 700 turns of 30ga wire.

Also thought I'd mention I've fooled around with direct earth grounds (wire to the copper rod outside the house) and sometimes I can increase the brightness of CFLs and LEDs by attaching it to one end of the bulb or just bringing it near the coil. I've noticed in particular that when I can touch something with my finger and make it brighter then I can add an earth ground somehow to get the same effect. Seems to draw a little more current though. Lidmotor made a video that noticed how remote coils benefit from earth grounds sometimes.

Mussle

[Jiffycoil]

@ Jiffycoil



Wow. Then it should run from a cell phone charger. They will put out 5.6 volts at up to 160 mA. If you can get those plasma sparks from a single AA battery using the cell phone charger that would be amazing.

@Seth and Xee2
I'm honestly looking at everything carefully and many of the things it does mystify me. I did try to run it off the cell charger I got off Ebay and the setup would not start up. This is the TIP31 transistor setup. I don't understand this at all. If I replace the TIP31 with the MPSA06 it runs fine but not anywhere as good as the TIP31 setup. Today I ran the TIP31 setup at 24 volts and the single LED with AV plug lights everywhere in the room without me touching it or touching any metal. I did take it into the adjacent room and with me touching the AV plug the LED lit touching the light switch screw. I have 4 multimeter's that will be in any day and I promise you I will film from that point showing voltage and amp draw and also redo what I have done up to this point.

[xee2]

@ Jiffycoil

I did try to run it off the cell charger I got off Ebay and the setup would not start up.

The power supply probably has a big capacitor across the output. I found that if I put a 100 uF capacitor across the cell phone charger outputs then the case is no longer hot (won't ligt LED held against it). I am doing this in my circuits now. All of the energy that ran back into the battery now goes into the capacitor and is reused. This also changes the RF path since the capacitor is a short to RF. That may be why the cell phone charger is not working.

[seth]

Ive just tried using a video camera recharger that plugs into the mains - its rated output is 5V at 1.2A. This is a first for me as ive always only used batteries. Seems to work almost identically to my 1AA in an emergency charger setup - it draws 0.2A and the field and output look identical (this is with TIP 31C like jiffy...havent tried the FETs yet). I was hoping the whole room would become electrified like in Jiffy's setup - no joy yet.......

Ive just found another IRF 630 in a different old monitor that a different mate gave me to re use. These things are everywhere in old monitors......if anyone wants a cheap working FET, just pull it out of an old monitor.

[xee2]

Hi Seth,

Thanks for your help. I now have about the same performance as you when using the cell phone charger. I do not have a video camera yet but I have ordered one, so I should be able to post a video in a week or two. I have been using the IRF530 with a 100 ohm resistor. With 9 volts at 650 mA I am getting very small plasma sparks. I am sure they will get bigger if I go to 12 volts. The FET has a small heat sink on it and is not even getting warm.

[seth]

Hi Seth,

Thanks for your help. I now have about the same performance as you when using the cell phone charger. I do not have a video camera yet but I have ordered one, so I should be able to post a video in a week or two. I have been using the IRF530 with a 100 ohm resistor. With 9 volts at 650 mA I am getting very small plasma sparks. I am sure they will get bigger if I go to 12 volts. The FET has a small heat sink on it and is not even getting warm.

Its a pleasure to help you Xee2 - youve given me so much help recently, and in the past on OU.com (flathunter), so the favour needs returning. Besides that, i can now get better performance with my TIP 31C - it seems to like the kilo ohm resistors, whereas the FETs seem to like anywhere less than 350 but more than 10. Have you seen something similar?

The one thing which im still not able to do (but should be able to do) is light an LED!!! I just cant! i can light several CFLs, 6W xenon tube, neons of various sizes....but whenever I put an LED anywhere, nothing happens. i tried building another AV plug again, and nothing. Are the type of diodes important? Br0kenman told me the type wasnt important, and showed (on his video) a transistor working as an AV plug!!! Well, still nothing for me.

Edit - ok - i can barely get one LED to light with 12V if connected to the output wire @ 1amp!!!! Unfortunately my IRF 730 died in this test....have to find another somewhere

[xee2]

IRF530 FET circuit

Here is my latest FET circuit. It will make very small plasma sparks without the FET even getting warm. The FET has a small heat sink but I do not think it is really needed. Power disipated in FET is calculated to be about 0.085 watts.

[woopy]

Fet fiesta

Hi all

Yep viva the fet

Thank's Xee 2 for the circuit, but as i have not the IRF 530 i tried the IRF640 and no succes than IRF 540 and no succes,,,,,but with the BUZ 11 it is the fiesta.

Seems to be better than with my TIP 31c.

My Slayer exciter begin to work at 3volts and 40 ma and dimly lit my 8 watts CFL

But when i increase the voltage to 6 volts the current goes to 470 ma but the CFL is fully lit . At this power the fet is not warm at all.

But something strande happen if i touch the SS bowl on top of L1 coil sometimes the current jump very high up to 5 or 7 A and the fet became very hot in seconds.

OK i have to make more test, but anyway the Slayer exciter seems to behave differently

On the pix you can see the board with my 2 circuits . One is the TIP 31C circuit and the bottom is the BUZ 11 circuit, where you see the electrolitique 100 mfd cap and the 100 ohm resistor.



@ Jiffycoil

Bravo fantastic experience. I have tried with my brand new FET BUZZ 11 and it works also on my small shop. I have notice that my body is the antenna. E.g. i stood in the middle of the shop, with one hand holding the AV plug on a metall thing and simply by extending my other hand in the exciter direction i can modify the intensity of the AV led.


have fun

And good luck at all

Laurent

[seth]

Hi all

Yep viva the fet

Thank's Xee 2 for the circuit, but as i have not the IRF 530 i tried the IRF640 and no succes than IRF 540 and no succes,,,,,but with the BUZ 11 it is the fiesta.

Seems to be better than with my TIP 31c.

My Slayer exciter begin to work at 3volts and 40 ma and dimly lit my 8 watts CFL

But when i increase the voltage to 6 volts the current goes to 470 ma but the CFL is fully lit . At this power the fet is not warm at all.

But something strande happen if i touch the SS bowl on top of L1 coil sometimes the current jump very high up to 5 or 7 A and the fet became very hot in seconds.

OK i have to make more test, but anyway the Slayer exciter seems to behave differently

On the pix you can see the board with my 2 circuits . One is the TIP 31C circuit and the bottom is the BUZ 11 circuit, where you see the electrolitique 100 mfd cap and the 100 ohm resistor.



@ Jiffycoil

Bravo fantastic experience. I have tried with my brand new FET BUZZ 11 and it works also on my small shop. I have notice that my body is the antenna. E.g. i stood in the middle of the shop, with one hand holding the AV plug on a metall thing and simply by extending my other hand in the exciter direction i can modify the intensity of the AV led.


have fun

And good luck at all

Laurent

Great to hear from you Woopy - i remember you being on the OU.com kapagen thread. Im pleased you're having fun with fets. I have one problem with them - on my 12V battery they seem to fry to quickly. My TIP 31C is more robust and can take 12V @ 1A (though not for long), but my FETs give great output on 1AA phone charger setup.

My TIP 31C works well with kilo ohm resistance, whereas the FETs work well on 10 - 350 ohms. Is this the same for you guys? Should i change the resistor depending on the voltage?? perhaps use higher ohm resistors for higher voltage inputs? Ill try tomorrow...

What kind of resistor do you use with TIP 31C and what kind with the FETs? This question is directed at everyone really - what resistances give the best rsults for you when you use bipolar transistors, and when you use FETs? What voltages and amp draws are you working with?

Thanks guys - i like to hear how others are getting on. Too much fun to be had to not share it

[Jiffycoil]

I have used the 1m resistor from the beginning. I guess I need to look at other combinations to see if I can get more out of this thing.

[Jiffycoil]

@ Jiffycoil

Bravo fantastic experience. I have tried with my brand new FET BUZZ 11 and it works also on my small shop. I have notice that my body is the antenna. E.g. i stood in the middle of the shop, with one hand holding the AV plug on a metall thing and simply by extending my other hand in the exciter direction i can modify the intensity of the AV led.

Thanks I'm learning so much from the folks here. Slayer, lidmotor, Jonnydavro, Seth, and Xee2 have all been a great help. I learn from every post they make.

[DrStiffler]

MosFET SEC Driver

I see some of you are working with FET drivers for your Tesla Coils. You may obtain some information from some of my early work in which I used FET's. One of the pages can be found at SEC Driver Circuits

Edit: Forgot this old one, the first self sustaining circuit.

Spatial Energy Conversion

[Jiffycoil]

Thank you Dr. Stiffler. It's always a pleasure when you share your work with us.